A SHOPKEEPER has been fined £700 and ordered to pay £250 costs for selling alcohol to an under-age customer.

The prosecution against Sivaru Uthayakumar, of K&R Newsagents in Peveral Green, Rainham, was brought by Medway Council’s trading standards department.

The customer was a 15-year-old test-purchase volunteer accompanied by two trading standards officers.

All three gave evidence at Medway Magistrates' Court where Mr Uthayakumar pleaded not guilty.

The action was part of a combined initiative by Kent Police and the council in accordance with Medway’s Community Safety Plan. Officers undertake test-purchasing for a variety of items, including spray paints, butane gas and cigarettes.

The council’s safer communities operations manager, Gavin Wilders, said: “Anyone found selling these products to under-age people will be dealt with.”